The Board of Directors of L'OREAL met on February, 23rd, 2000 under the chairmanship of Mr Lindsay OWEN-JONES, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and was notified of the group's preliminary consolidated financial statements for 1999.

Main annual group indicators

at 31 December 1998pro formain millions of FFin millions of euros

at 31 December 1999

in millions of FFin millions of euros

Growthas %

Consolidated sales

62 8929 588

70 52010 751

+ 12,1

Operating profit

7 2561 106

8 5691 306

+ 18,1

Adjusted operating profit *

7 3411 119

8 3331 270

+ 13,5

Profit on ordinary pactivities before taxation and employee profit sharing

As there was a positive structural impact of 0.4% on L'OREAL sales due to the consolidation of cosmetics and dermatology subsidiaries on the American continent, like-for-like growth was +11.3% compared with 10.6% in 1998 excluding Synthélabo.

The following performances were achieved in the group's main branches:

Main annual branches indicators

Cosmetics

Dermatology (1)

in millions of FFin millions of euros

Growth

in millions of FFin millions of euros

Growth

Sales

68 75110 481

11,9 %

1 303 199

+ 31,6 %

Profit before taxation and employee profit sharing

7 3261 117

+ 13,2 %

23336

+ 53,6 %

(1) Group share, i.e. 50%

The group's tax charge has increased by 14.3%.

Net profit on ordinary activities before capital gains and losses and after minority interests, which is used to calculate earnings per share, is estimated at FF 5,428 million (EUR 827 million), up by 15.1%.

The Board of Directors is verifying these provisional accounts in liaison with the Statutory Auditors, and will certify them on April, 5th, 2000.

In other respects, the Board of Directors noted the resignation of Mr Pascal CASTRES SAINT MARTIN from his directorship. The Board expressed its warm thanks to Mr. Pascal CASTRES SAINT MARTIN and, following the Chairman's proposal, the Board decided to provisionally appoint Mr Michel SOMNOLET as a director. Mr Michel SOMNOLET has been Vice-President in charge of Administration and Finance since 1st January 2000.